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Disenchanted with my FX company


idun
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I have been using currency fair for a while now, but am not at all happy with them at the moment.

I don't think that their exchange rates are what they were.

So for those of you who transfer regularly, which do you prefer?? TIA[:)]

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Having found the same as you with CF, after 4 years of happily using them and recommending them, I have now used Transferwise for my last 3 exchanges. Each time their rate has been better than CF - even better than juggling/gambling with marketplace on CF.

Sue
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It's a bit difficult to make comparisons just now as the pound has plummeted nearly 10% against the euro in the last two months. The rates we can get from TW and CF tend to lag behind bank rates, so if one lags a tad more than the other it may appear more unfavourable. Anyway thanks for the heads up. I'm a CF user and will watch TW with interest.
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Kong said : I'm a CF user and will watch TW with interest.

I am finding that much can depend on the amount being transferred as TW uses a pro-rata charge rate for the transfer out whereas CF uses a flat rate. With larger amounts ie over £2K to € then CF might well be better.

Sue
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LOL Kong, am I to say the € had plummeted within the last few months????? I have never commented about the exchange rates doing their thing, because I know that they are capricious and go up and down.

Remember I only exchange €'s to £'s.  And as ever, it is what it is.

What I do like, is to get the very best I can when I need to exchange. And at the moment CF is not acting as they have been.

I shall look at transfer wise. And I don't think that the amount, say under about 10K makes much difference to the exchange rate...... and we never transfer that much.[blink]

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It may be a bit of a leap of faith if you don't already know someone you can trust but if you're converting € to £ you'd be better off doing a deal with somebody in France who is exchanging the other way.

We occasionally have an excess of € and when we do we do we sell them to an English friend at the middle rate and she does a £ transfer to our UK bank.

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idun I'm well aware that your income is French and that you buy pounds. What I am saying is that if the exchange rates change rapidly, one way or the other, the two companies may be adjusting their rates at a different pace. If and when the exchange rate settles for a few days it will be easier to make a judgement. In the meanwhile, each time I change money I will look at both and choose the most favourable at the moment. I change monthly small pension amounts and live hand to month. I can't afford the luxury of saving up four or five figure amounts and waiting fo a good rate!
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[quote user="AnOther"]It may be a bit of a leap of faith if you don't already know someone you can trust but if you're converting € to £ you'd be better off doing a deal with somebody in France who is exchanging the other way.

 

Which is precisely what currencyfair does and which makes them very different to all the other FX companies



We occasionally have an excess of € and when we do we do we sell them to an English friend at the middle rate and she does a £ transfer to our UK bank.
[/quote]

 

I have done that in the past but with just one person its rare that the timing and amounts suit both of us.

 

I am curious as to how much Currencyfair is off the mark at the moment their fee inclusive and on what sums?

 

Maybe their business model is not competitive in a falling market?

 

In any case whilst I understand we will always compare and choose the best deal for us its not comparing eggs with eggs vis à vis Currencyfair vs the others.

 

luckily for over a year now I have had no need to transfer money either way, the coffers are refilling every month in each country so I have a good hedge against the currency movements, makes a change from the darkest days.

 

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I always keep my eye on it, and until about four or five months ago

could usually know what they would offer when I looked at the exchange

rates, and now I get less.

How much is it off the mark, well, enough to annoy the hell out of me, is what I can say and frankly every penny more in my pocket, is more spending power. Not well off enough to think otherwise I'm afraid.

Could I exchange with someone, hmmm, not so sure about that really. My oldest friend exchanges, but IF something happened to her, I reckon that I'd have the devil's own job getting her OH to pay up, if money was owed to us. So no, I don't think I'll do that.

transferwise this afternoon was worse than CF. IF I can find no one any better, I'll stick with what I am doing and grince mes dents! 

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Having a pension paid to our bank in France at a good rate by the government means that we don't use it as much as we did (and we transfer the opposite way to you Idun), but we have found Caxton very reliable. We do several exchanges when the rate is good for us and use it by spending in France at our leisure.

On the other point, exchanging with somebody who needs the other currency, when we couldn't come to France for 6 months because of illness, we did an exchange with an English neighbour; we received cash in euros and secured a lower amount in our French bank account and he secured sterling at a favourable rate.

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